A Very Busy Weekend

When your owner gets out of bed and you're not ready yet
I would have liked to join him

I've been quiet because I've been feeling a little like crap all weekend. I think it's partially the weather and I'm wondering if with the recent colder temperatures I might be fighting off a cold.

On Friday I still had some energy and after a couple of days off I made it out to the barn to ride. Katai was sassy but pretty good and her canter transitions were continuing to improve. I had a friend at the barn with me and we tried to get some pictures but the lighting is just too dark so the only pictures we got were really blurry.

On Saturday I did a 5K with my work colleagues. They're amazing and we all just walked, solidarity for those who aren't runners, but it was a great albeit cold way to start the day. Since it was near the barn I had decided to go there next but the walk took a little longer than I expected and I had an apartment viewing scheduled, more on that later, so I was short on time at the barn.

Caught this picture on the way home from getting sushi
'Merica...

I pulled out all of my tack and went to get the pony. Just like what you would expect, she was lit up and didn't want to play along. I tried to put her in the crossties and groom her but she was having none of it so instead of fighting with her I decided to just lunge. She was doing all sort of crazy out of character things so I was really glad I didn't ride. She kicked out multiple times at the line, spooked and bolted twice (which she NEVER does), and did lots of head tossing and porpoising.

I had her do lots of, on cue, trot/canter transitions going in each direction. I didn't have her work that long, just until she was able to settle a little. I walked her for awhile, let her eat some grass and then left.

Don't worry, I was stopped. This is why I've been tired recently,
this picture was taken during the day.

I'm looking at apartments with one of my three roommates. In our current situation our landlord has all of the decision making power as far as who roommates are and this last one isn't someone I'd chose to live with. Since I now know someone in this area that I'd like to live with we're looking at 2 bedroom apartments where hopefully we can save some money and not have random people cycling through without our say. Unfortunately on Saturday the owner didn't show to give us a tour. However, that roommate and I went out for sushi and only got slightly sidetracked at an amazing local farmers market that I'd never been to!

I got tons of cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, and baby bok choi for only $9!!! After putting our amazing groceries away at home we went back out for sushi at our favorite sushi place. It was amazing! My favorite is their sweet potato role but I always love cucumber/avocado roles. Finally we went for groceries and got some coffee. I cleaned and did laundry when I got home so by the time I sat down to watch a movie it was almost time for bed.

Sunday I rode in the morning and although I didn't feel the need to lunge before I rode she was even more sassy than normal. She was full of herself and determined that she gets to make the call on when she's going to canter. I was really proud of how I handled that ride and we ended with some really nice, slow, stretchy trot but it took awhile to get there. Im thinking that she is also struggling with the new, colder, darker weather just like I am.

She got today off and I'm hoping that she feels more like cooperating at my lesson tomorrow!

My Crazy Weekend

My barn was having a schooling show this Saturday. I hadn't planned on entering but at the last minute J told me that there would be a sport horse In hand class and I REALLY wanted to show Katai. There were a few problems including that I have a white pony who is still pretty sure that the hose is going to eat her so a real bath would be tricky, I have no idea how to do sport horse in hand, plus I haven't ever made Katai trot next to me and even if I could get her to it certainly wouldn't show off her trot very well. I hate being unprepared so I decided to skip it this time but on Friday evening J asked if I would scribe and I jumped at the chance.

It really was great to scribe and get a feel for what the judge was looking for. This was my first time and I was a little nervous but the judge was very patient and helpful and I feel like its a good life skill. I was glad it was a schooling show and that no one showed over 1st level since those tests were already difficult enough.

It was great to spectate and help out, and I would certainly scribe again in a heartbeat, but hopefully I can ride in the next one!

Then on Saturday I ran my first 5K, not an event just on my own, with only one short 15 second walk in the middle! It was my first time running over two miles and I hadn't done that since last year. Tonight I ran another 5K and cut off 3 minutes :)

I'm really glad that I'm making some improvement because I'm entered in a Ragnar in August https://www.ragnarrelay.com. I'm excited but extremely nervous because this will be the first sporting event that I've ever been a part of. I never did any sports as a kid other than riding and even with riding I never had lessons or anyone to push me so I sort of putzed along and just had fun, which is great don't get me wrong but it doesn't encourage any type of fitness. I was certainly never an athletic kid and while my family did lots of hiking and we would sometimes go on long bike rides it was never easy or especially fun for me. I was never thin but going through college and grad school I was starting to get a bit tubby. It's not something that I've ever really brought up on this blog but it was seeing a picture of myself riding Myshla that made me decide I had to change something. 

I started running last year but never made it over two miles and only did that a few times. This winter I didn't run at all because I didn't have access to a treadmill so this year I had to start all over and I am so glad that I did! I'm actually starting to enjoy it and I can tell how much more fit I am just since I got back to it at the beginning of May. Since I started working on my diet and exercise about three years ago I've lost over 40 pounds and my goal is to lose about 15-20 more. Training for the Ragnar this summer will certainly help! 

Finally on Sunday my sister came to visit and came with me to the barn. I was able to convince her to take some pictures. She rocks! They are a little blurry but they are also almost the only pictures I have of me riding Katai so I don't even care.

Can you tell how much I love this pony :-)

Please forgive the wonky elbows and hands. Between the green baby pony things, the fact that J wants my hands a little low and wide right now to help her stretch down, and the fact that I haven't really ridden much at all for the last month since Katai got to the barn my position has certainly been better. Now that I finally have a saddle that fits and a pony that behaves I can start to do the work to bring it together.